Tank ball guide



Oct. 14, 1952 o. J. WALTER TANK BALL GUIDE Filed Dec. 27, 1949 Fig. l.

Orren J. Walter INVENTOR.

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Patented Oct. 14, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TANK BALL GUIDE Orren J. Walter, Cheyenne, Wyo.

Application December 27, 1949, Serial No. 135,172

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in ball valve guide attachments of the type commonly associated with flush tank valves.

The primary object of this invention is to slidingly guide the lift rod of a ball flush valve for preventing lateral movement of the ball valve from alignment with its seat.

Another important object of this invention is to provide an attachment capable of realizing the foregoing object, which may be readily attached to or removed from conventional tank fiush valve constructions.

Conventional fiush tanks normally include an integral fitting which includes a discharge conduit having a ball valve seat formed in its upper end and an L-shaped overflow conduit communicating with the discharge conduit, the latter of which has in the past made it exceedingly difficult to attach ball valve' guide means to the upper end of the discharge conduit and it has also made it difficult to provide such guide means which include a guide portion extending upwardly from the laterally projecting overflow conduit,

and accordingly, another important object of this invention is to overcome these difficulties by providing such guide means which may be efi'icaciously and securely attached to the fitting which includes guide portion extending directly above the laterally projecting overflow conduit.

A meritorious feature of the present invention resides in the guide members having seats formed at their lower ends for removably receiving a split clamp type fastener, and a discharge conduit having a groove receiving the seat-forming portions of the guide members.

Another important feature of the present invention resides in the provision of an additional guide member directly above the overflow conduit which terminates in spaced relation above the same.

A final important feature to be specifically enumerated herein resides in the split clamp embracing both the discharge conduit and the overfiow conduit, to make the same readily accessible and provide for a secure fitting of the same.

These, together with various ancillary features and objects of the invention which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds, are attained by the present invention, a preferred embodiment of which has been illustrated by way of example only, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view of the present invention, showing the same attached for use to a conventional flush valve construction which is also shown in vertical section; and

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the present invention, being taken from the plane of the section line 22 of Figure 1 and with the overflow pipe and the lift rods being shown in section.

Reference is now made more specifically to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views, and in which the reference numeral l0 indicates a portion of a conventional flush tank.

As in conventional flush tanks, the flush tank it is provided with a fitting indicated generally by the numeral [2 for discharging the contents from the tank. The fitting I2 extends through the bottom of the tank l0 and is retained in this position by a nut l4 engaging the lower threaded end of the fitting l2 and a sealing gasket I6 is provided to prevent leakage around the fitting 2. The fitting I2 is customarily integrally formed and includes a discharge conduit 18 having a ball valve seat '20 formed at its upper end, and a laterally projecting L-shaped overflow conduit 22 communicating with the discharge conduit l8, the former of which in the conventional arrangement threadingly receives the lower end of an overflow pipe 24.

A ball valve is provided to cooperate with the ball valve seat 20 to close the upper end of the discharge conduit 18, and the ball valve 26 threadingly receives the threaded lower end 28 of a lift rod 30, the latter of which is connected to a suitable lift mechanism, a portion only of which is indicated at 32 as will be readily understood. Since all of the foregoing is of conventional construction, it is believed that the foregoing description will be sufficient to those skilled in the art.

The attachment, which comprises the subject matter of this invention, is indicated generally at 34, and comprises a disk 36 having an aperture 38 therethrough that slidingly receives and guides the lift rod 30 and constitutes a guide therefor. A plurality of guide members are provided which have their inner ends suitably secured to the disk 36, and which extend radially outward therefrom in spaced angular relationship to each other. The members are, intermediate their ends, bent as at 42 to extend downwardly in spaced parallel relationship with each other, and are adjacent their lower ends bent inwardly, as at 44 and thence outwardly as at 46 with respect to the guide disk 36 to constitute an arcuately concave seat 48 for a clamp to be presently described. As will be noted upon reference to- Figure 1, the upper end of the discharge conduit I8 is provided with a groove 50 which receives the seat-forming portion of the guide member 40. An additional guide member 52 is provided, which has its upper end suitably secured to the disk 36, and which also extends radially outwardly from the disk 36 in spaced angular relationship with the guide members 40, being bent as at 54 to extend downwardly parallel to the downwardly extending portions of the guide members 40, and terminates at its lower end above the overflow conduit 22, at 54.

A substantially U-shaped clamp, indicated generally at 56, is provided, which includes a web 58 and legs 60. The clamp 56 embraces the guide members 40, being received in the seat 48 to clamp the members 40 in the groove 50, and has the legs 60 extending along opposite sides of the over-.

flow conduit '22 to have their outer extremities connected by a bolt 62 and wing nut 64.

In the preferred construction the attachment, including the clamp, is formed from corrosion resistant metal, brass being suitable for this purpose, and the members 40 and 52 as well as the clamp 56 are formed from wire possessing sufficient resiliency to permit the same to be readily applied to or removed from a ball tank valve.

The members 40 and 52 are so spaced as to slidingly receive the ball valve 26 therebetween,

which, as will be readily seen upon an inspection of Figure 1, guide the vertical movement of the ball valve 26 to and from its seat 20, while the disk 36 guides the vertical movement of the lift rod 30. It will thus be seen that there has been provided an attachment which may be readily and rigidly secured to the fitting [2 which provides adequate means for guiding the ball valve 26 commensurate with the excellency of the clamping means. It will be noted that the clamp 56 may be secured to the members 40, but in the preferred construction the parts are separate to permit piece-meal replacement of parts as desired and ease of assembly.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, but all suitablemodificati-onsand equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claim.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

In a tank flush valve of the type including a discharge conduit having a ball valve seat formed in its upper end and an L-shaped conduit connected to said discharge conduit and formed integrally therewith, and a ball valve engaging said seat and having a lift rod attached thereto; an improvement comprising a guide having an aperture slidingly receiving said lift rod, a plurality of elongated valve guide members extending radially outward in spaced angular relation to each other from said guide and having their upper ends attached thereto, each of said members being bent and extending downwardly in spaced parallelism to each other and each having an arcuate clamp seat formed adjacent its lower end by being curved inwardly and then outwardly with respect to the guide, said discharge conduit being providedwith a seating groove adjacent its upper end receiving the curved portions of the guide members forming the seats, a further elongated guide member having one end secured to the guide and extending radially outwardly therefrom and thence downwardly parallel to the guide members and terminating at its other end spaced above the juncture of the conduits, and a clamp including a substantially U-shaped member having spaced legs, the clamp being disposed about the lower ends of the guide members and seated in the seats formed therein, the legs of the clamp extending along opposite sides of the L-shaped conduit, and adjustable fastening means connecting the outer ends of the legs for urging the guide members into frictional engagement with the discharge conduit with the ball valve being disposed and guidingly retained between the guide members and the further guide member.

ORREN J. WALTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,607,520 Frankenberger Nov. 16, 1926 1,655,894 Davenport Jan. 10, 1928 1,799,770 Wegner 'Apr. 7,1931 2,113,205 Winkelspecht Apr. 5, 1938 2,430,765. Garrigan Nov. 11, 1947 

